Control and management of infectious diseases

Background and aims Dynamic allocation of scarce resources is often a key question when controlling epidemic outbreaks of infectious diseases. However much remains to be learned when it comes to identifying the most efficient way to control and manage epidemics. Similar questions are met when battling biological invasions, in conservation biology and monitoring, wildlife and fishery management. These problems can often be formulated within the optimal control theory framework. With this workshop we want to bring together experts from fields of conservation, wildlife management, economics and mathematics while keeping in mind common issues and practicalities regarding epidemics. The focus will be mainly on human diseases, with biological and mathematical analogies drawn from animal diseases. Our goals are: To provide an overview of the latest control and management methods in different fields and identify methods from other fields that can be applied to disease control Make some technical progress to improve current strategies for control and prevention of disease outbreaks Workshop format The workshop will cover two days. We plan to follow a flexible format that allows for discussions and working through exciting ideas as they are presented. Day 1: general talks on aimed at establishing a unified vocabulary, reviewing existing approaches, and identifying areas of overlapping interest. Day 2 will focus on more technical aspects of formulating and solving resource allocation problems. Questions to stimulate discussion What are the main barriers for disease control today? How can models help us control and prevent the outbreaks of infectious diseases? What theoretical tools are most commonly used, and where can new theoretical tools make useful contributions? What model results can help allocate the limited resources for disease control more efficiently and make the decision making process easier? What results and methods from other areas can be beneficial for disease management and control? Confirmed visiting participants Helene Broutin (Fogarty International Center, NIH) Chris Dye (World Health Organization) Alison Galvani (Yale School of Public Health) Rebecca Grais (Epicentre/MSF) Suzanne Lenhart, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Marc Mangel (UCSC) Daniel Merl (Duke) Cecile Viboud (Fogarty International Center, NIH) Agenda Wednesday June 11 Dinner social Thursday June 12 Morning and afternoon session of talks Dinner social Friday June 13 Morning session of talks Afternoon working group Dinner social Saturday June 14 Hike

Contact

Petra Klepac
pklepac@psu.edu